Our modern way of life is often filled with stressful situations. In fact, 20 percent of the U.S population suffers from a stress-related brain-gut conditions called Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). With every meal we eat, the enteric nervous system springs into action to monitor the digestion process and determine how your chicken's and mashed potatoes should be mixed and propelled. This is often the reason we are highly tuned in to our gut messages when negative information like pain and bloating make their way to our brain.
Stress signals from the brain can alter nerve function and turn up the volume of Serotonin Circuits in the gut. This over-stimulation can cause problems all through the GI tract such as trouble swallowing, heartburn, nausea, abdominal pain, altered bowel habits, or bloating. Thankfully, these symptoms can be successfully treated now that physicians better understand the causes. It's bygone days when patients were told, "all your tests are normal", they sometimes feared they were just imagining these debilitating symptoms or worse yet the doctor had somehow missed a cancer that was still lurking. Unfortunately, this can lead to depression in some cases as sufferers feel helpless when there seems to be no good treatment plan to claim down their GI tract and help them lead a more normal life.
Irritable bowel can be preventable when one dedicated much of their time and energy to devising lifestyle changes that in many cases allow patients to live symptoms-free the majority of the time. Once a patients with severe symptoms have been tested, to be sure there are no sign of cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, the doctor can confidently attribute the symptoms to IBS.
Here are few of the recommendations that often brings relief to those diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS):
1. Stop smoking as it causes stimulation of the GI tract.
2. Drink only small amounts of alcohol if you drink at all as this irritates the GI tract.
3. Avoid saturated fat, roughage, dairy products, and caffeine for 2 or 3 weeks and see if it helps your symptoms. Take Metamucil everyday while on this regimen. Slowly add back into your diet those foods you eliminates to see which seem to trigger symptoms for you.
4. Drink plenty of water.
Find this article interesting? Please comment with your experience and don't forget to share with friends using all our social media handles below. You can also subscribe to receive new blog updates. Thanks
Post a Comment